Weakness
by Lisea18
Summary: IshidaOrihime. Both of them are weak, they suffer from that. But sometimes weakness drove people together.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Weakness  
Author: Lisea18  
Rating: K  
Character (mention or present): ishida, orihime, ichigo …  
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach  
Warming: Spoiler to all the manga AND to the last chapter published in Japan  
Summary: Ishida/Orihime. Both of them are weak, they suffer from that. But sometimes weakness drove people together.

Author's note: Well, I'm not English… so please forgive my mistakes (you can tell me, I will correct them if I find out how to).  
Thanks to all my readers!

It's my first Bleach fic, I hope I didn't make them too OOC

Please R&R

Weakness

Orihime was thinking. Yes she was actually able to think, whatever. There were all back, safe. They had all grown up a bit too fast. They were their usual selves or at least they pretended to be. Ishida had lost his power but he concealed it. Chad was worried about Ichigo. Orihime was looking happy. But more importantly, he… Ichigo was sad. Oh he was pretty good at pretending, just like every one of them, when it mattered. But he couldn't deceive her. Not her nor Ishida but he didn't care, he had is own problems. And Ichigo didn't know that they both knew. It was so obvious! All Ichigo thought about was her! She was the only one who truly mattered to him! She! She! She! Kuchiki-san… He was not concentrating, he was thinking of her. When he smiled it was so fake because he wasn't smiling at _her_. And it hurt Orihime… it hurt so much that he couldn't truly smile for her. To him she was invisible. Orihime shook her head. She hated herself for actually hating Kuchiki-san. Oh and this "san" hurt too. Gosh she was so pitiful.

And then she felt it, a hollow. Just what she needed. She could just imagine it was Kuchiki and beat the crap out of it. Ok that was mean, but that sure would help. Dashing she followed the spirit tracks. The hollow was very close. Huh? There was somebody else with it. Fighting with it. Who? She stopped in her tracks. Ishida.

ooooooooooooooooo

Damn! He had a big problem. Yeah, a very big one, almost three meters tall, ugly, and with a hole in its chest. A hollow. Just great. He hadn't sensed it approach. He couldn't use his Quincy power but he was not going to lose so easily! He always had some tricks up his sleeve. At least he was able to see it, so he could hit it.

Ishida jumped out of the hollow's way barely escaping from being crushed. He had to find a weapon. The hollow nearly cut his head off, but he succeeded in taking a wood stick. Aiming at the head he put all his strength in his attack and broke the hollow's mask. He was safe. Thanks to his strong arms and his archery practice. He might look a little girlish but he wasn't weak.

"Thank God Ichigo wasn't here… as if a Shinigami would actually show up on time! And to save a Quincy!" he snorted.

Something flew just one centimetre above his head. "What the hell? Oh… Shit…"

Another hollow. Wrong. Three other hollows, all way stronger than the first one. He was in deep shit. Fine, at least he would put up a good fight. He was a Quincy!

"Come on! I'm waiting!"

He killed two of them but his body suffered a lot of damage. His left arm was of no use. He had a deep gash on his chest and blood was dripping from his face. He was near death and couldn't take down the last hollow.

"Master…" he breathed and he fell on his knees.

He could see the hand of his enemy aiming for his head. He couldn't move. He closed his eyes and waited. Then a small wind touched his face. He crumbled to the floor and opened a tired eye. What had stopped the blow? Ichigo? God, please not him. He didn't want him to know.

A rainbow? Great, he was hallucinating. No wait. A rainbow?

"Inoue-san?"

"Don't move Ishida-kun!"

Jeez. He was going to be saved by her. Again. Like when they fell in Soul Society. At least it wasn't Ichigo. She wouldn't make fun of him… right? He then let the darkness engulf him.

ooooooooooooooooo

She had arrived just in time to save him. After all she could be useful. She had asked her friends to mend his wounds. He was good as new. He might be a god of sewing but she was not bad at treating people! Maybe he could become a surgeon… yes sewing people would be a nice job for him! And Ichigo would be the one with the scalpel! And she would be the nurse! And Chad the anaesthetist! And…

"Ano… Inoue-san…"

"Ishida-kun! You're awake! How are you feeling?"

"Fine… thanks to you, Inoue-san"

She shook her head. "Not at all! You were so great! You beat three of them! I couldn't have done the same!"

Ishida turned his head. She was nice. She knew he had lost his power. And just like that time in Soul Society, when she had slowed their fall, she was making sure he wasn't feeling indebted to her. But it hurt. It was as if she pitied him. He hated his weakness! He was ashamed.

Orihime sighed. Ishida-kun wasn't looking at her. She could guess why.

"I… I… I love Ichigo", she murmured.

Ishida turned to face her, stunned.

"What?"

"I love Ichigo."

Yes he had heard right. He might be useless fighting but not deaf and not blind. He already knew it. Only Ichigo was blind… or pretended to be. But why was she telling him that? And more importantly, what was he supposed to answer?

"But he doesn't love me. And will never love me. That hurts, but there isn't anything I can do about it. So don't be ashamed, Ishida."

That was it. Inoue-san was being nice. That wasn't the same kind of pain but it was similar. They were both wounded.

"Yeah… Thank you…"

Orihime stood up, smiling brightly. She had to leave. He didn't wish for her to stay to see him like that.

"I'm going now! Take care!"

And she just left without waiting for his answer. He was grateful for that. He knew that she would never talk of what had happened again. She wouldn't tell the others either. That was the kind of girl she was. And he would not talk of her feelings again. He wouldn't tell the others either. That was the kind of boy he was.

ooooooooooooooooo

There she was looking happy, bouncing, and saying nonsense. But he could see… he always saw but didn't care that she was suffering. Tatsuki-san might know too but she did nothing. Maybe there was nothing they could do. Jeez. Since when did he begin to care? Wrong. He knew. He just disliked seeing her, or… _him_… yeah Ichigo, looking sad. He just… disliked it. Damn him for actually being a "nice guy".

"Hey! Four eyes what are you doing?" screamed Ichigo just next to his ear.

Alright scratch that. He hated the damn Shinigami. He nearly had a heart attack!

"Damn you, Ichigo!"

"Whaaaa four eyes is angry! Don't you have some sewing to do? Huh?"

"I'm going to sew that big mouth of yours!"

Orihime chuckled. Ishida was always able to make Ichigo a bit more like his usual self. He was his rival or used to be. She couldn't do that… she couldn't even be that.

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME! I looooovee when you're looking like that!" Tatsuki was preparing to kick the damn girl who was already massaging Orihime's breasts when something unusual happened. The excited girl was literally torn off of Orihime.

"Back off," snapped Ishida.

"Whaaaa four eyes playing the hero!" laughed Ichigo.

"At least I'm doing something for her, you moron!" he thought. Orihime didn't need that stupid girl around right now. He owed Orihime so this was the least he could do for her.

"Thank you, Ishida-kun. You would make a great super hero! Like Kon!" Orihime was now imitating superman with her arms extended towards the sky, looking desperately serious and of course making strange noises that were supposed to be sound of the wind blowing around the hero.

"Kon isn't a super hero. Don't compare me to that thing!"

ooooooooooooooooo

Everybody had left the class except for Ishida and Orihime. She didn't felt like going home. Ishida was lost in his book and wasn't paying attention to her. She sighed. Maybe Tatsuki would come to eat at her place. Yeah! Of course she would come! Happy Orihime stood up ready to leave when Ishida shut his book and came toward her.

"Inoue-san."

"Ishida-kun? What is the matter?"

Something was nearly stuffed in her face. She moved a little to see Ishida, who was a little red and looking at everything except her. She then looked at the thing still hanging in the air, took it and smiled. It was a set of beautiful socks and gloves that matched perfectly, hand made, perfectly done, just like everything sewn by the handicraft master.

"Don't misunderstand! It's just that I had some fabric left, and so I made that. I didn't know what to do with it so I'm just giving it to you. Really, I'm not trying to comfort you. It's just that I didn't want to waste the fabric, so I made them. Besides, I had never made socks before so it was a challenge. I'm a handcraft master so…"

"You're a horrible liar Ishida-kun… really," thought Orihime. She hid her smile, at seeing him bright red, pushing nervously his glasses up his nose.

"Thank you Ishida-kun. They are beautiful."

"Of course they are. I'm an artist!" answered Ishida like usual.

She did have friends… she tended to forget that sometimes.

"You know… You're useful. You're the one who connects the group. You protect everybody… we all need you. Now more than ever because I'm a dead weight."

Orihime raised her head. Ishida…

"Thank you."

"I meant it."

He didn't wait for her to catch up. Maybe he was a bit ashamed of showing his weakness to her, to show her his kindness. But thanks to him she felt a lot better. He was right! She had to stand for all of them! She would bring back Ichigo's true smile! Yeah! Fight! Fight!

ooooooooooooooooo

Damn! Damn! Damn! His powers were truly lost. Lost forever. He was putting everybody in danger. He couldn't even take care of himself. He had escaped death by a hairbreadth. Jeez! So pitiful, so damn weak!

Ishida slammed his hand against the wall. What was he without his Quincy powers? He let himself slide on the floor, letting his head rest on the wall, his hand clenched in a tight fist almost drawing blood. He was fighting back the tears that threatened to escape his eyes.

"Why… why?"

Breathing deeply he stood up and took his bow. Practicing his archery might help him relax. But he couldn't possibly walk with a bow and a quiver in town. Definitely not. He had some weapons with him but he could only take down weak hollows. He wouldn't last long.

Ishida stood alone in the school's practice field. He concentrated and the arrow hit the target right in the centre. He hadn't lost his skills. Arrow after arrow he let his anger drift away from him. After many hours of training his hand hurt like hell and blood was dripping to the floor, but he couldn't stop. He needed to continue just to prove that he still existed. That he was still alive even without his Quincy power. All of a sudden everything became blurry. What the hell?

"Nani?" He asked, startled.

"You're hurting yourself."

"Ichigo! Give me back my glasses!"

"Take them back!" challenged the Shinigami.

"You bastard!"

Ishida began to run after the damn teen to get back his glasses. Damn him! He couldn't see without them! Jeez where was he? There! Something bright!

"Got you, moron!" He screamed literately flattening the man to the floor. Man? A man with huge breasts? He?

" Ichigo… when did you grow breasts?"

"Ano… Ishida-kun…"

Oh shit. Double shit! Inoue-san. Stupid! God…and he was beginning to use way too many bad words. That was Ichigo's fault for sure. Damn him. Everything was his fault! Inoue-san being sad, him losing his power (well not really, but damn he was angry), and him slamming straight into Inoue-san. By the way, was he still lying on top of her? Yes he certainly was. Damn! Ok his mission was to stand up without touching Inoue-san, especially not her breasts. Right. Key word being "not touching."

"Ano… Ishida-kun… can you move?"

"Ishida you pervert!" screamed Ichigo.

"It's your fault!" screamed back the blushing Quincy, trying to get up.

He had almost succeeded when Ichigo, with a huge grin, hit his head making him fall on Orihime's lap. He was going to kill the bastard.

"Whaaaa sorry Inoue-san!"

"It's ok, it's ok."

He backed off full speed and glared at Ichigo, trying to catch his glasses, miserably missing each time since he couldn't even see them.

"Oy! Inoue!"

She caught the glasses just in time. Ishida who hadn't seen the motion, was still attacking Ichigo.

"Ichigo do you want to eat with me? I have bread and…"

"Not today Inoue, I'm meeting with Chad to see if we can contact Rukia."

Ishida didn't need to have his glasses on to see how that hurt the girl. He guessed he could just feel it. Pretending to be aiming for his glasses he punched Ichigo's shoulder. Serves him right!

"Hey! You dummy! That hurts!"

"Give me back my glasses!"

"Oy Inoue, just keep him from getting them ok? He's going to kill himself training otherwise. Bye bye."

Ishida turned to face Inoue. Ichigo had already left. She smiled at him. "Want to eat with me? What if we go on the roof? Maybe we will see UFOs! Whaaa I want to see them! Come on!"

She was just pretending. She was hurt. He _knew_ it. She grabbed his wrist and started pulling him. She was overexcited like always. Her usual smile plastered on her face.

"Don't."

Inoue stopped and released him still smiling brightly. "Come on! It will be fun! I will give you your glasses back!"

"Don't…" he repeated.

"What?" she asked startled.

"Don't smile when you're sad."

She opened her mouth in shock. He couldn't really see her, and he didn't want to. "Inoue-san… you can stop pretending with me. I'm also weak… just stop pretending with me. There is no need."

She averted her gaze, an awkward silence falling between them. Then she began to sob. He could hear her breath coming irregularly. And she flung herself in his arms, crying, clutching his shirt. It was going to get wet but he didn't care. He said nothing and just held her, letting her cry her heart out. When she had calmed down he backed up, took his glasses and offered her his handmade handkerchief.

He didn't say the usual words, "are you feeling better?" or "it's not like you to cry." He just kept quiet. She took the handkerchief and smiled at the embroidery. Men normally didn't have embroidered handkerchiefs but Ishida had embroidered his with little flowers and birds.

"Don't laugh!" grunted Ishida, blushing.

Inoue bit her lips, trying in vain to stop her giggles.

"I'm a handicraft master," explained Ishida still red.

At least he was aware of his strangeness. And then she noticed his hands there was dry blood on them and they looked awful. She gently caught them.

"We should treat that."

"No, it's ok, I'm used to…"

"Ichigo asked me to take care of you," she answered.

"Alright then."

They went to the bathroom and Ishida let her treat him. They were quiet the whole time, but it was a nice silence.

ooooooooooooooooo

To be continue!  
I hope you enjoyed  
Reviews are greatly appreciate (and make me work faster lol)  
I love to know what you though while reading, what you liked or disliked


	2. Chapter 2

For my lovely Beta and Kitahoshi who took the time to review

Chapter Two

Ishida couldn't face Inoue. He hadn't been there… he hadn't been able to rescue her. Not even Kurosaki had been there, but that was just a small consolation. She was covered in bandages and hadn't come to school for so long. Why was he so weak?

_"I can give you back your Quincy powers, but you have to promise not to involve yourself with Shinigami and their friends ever again"_

He wanted his powers back. He couldn't stand not to have them. But that would mean leaving the only friends he had ever had. It would mean leaving her. Would he survive? Ishida was strange and sometimes really dumb yet pretty clever in his own way. He knew. He had fallen for Orihime and he had fallen hard. But what would hurt the most? Falling in love with her knowing she loved another? Knowing that he had to leave her in order to be able to protect her?

He had to make a decision, but his mind couldn't decide which one. What should he do? Leave and regain his power to protect himself and the people he loved, even from far away or stay and be useless? Maybe this decision wasn't up to him.

Slowly he turned towards her. She was trying to be her usual cheerful self. But he could see that she was worried about Ichigo and jealous of Kuchiki-san. He didn't exist in her world. And yet… maybe she had never thought that he could be in love with her. He had to be sure. That would be his way to decide.

Orihime was completely oblivious of what was going on in Ishida's mind. She was too busy concentrating on Ichigo.

ooooooooooooooooo

Ishida wasn't the kind of man to worry. Once he had made up his mind, he did what he had to do. He wasn't shaking, walking like a mad man or looking at his watch every two seconds… he was perfectly calm and collected.

When everyone, except for Inoue and him, had left the sewing club, he rose from his chair and walked over to her. Kindly he showed her how she was supposed to sew a particular part of her teddy bear.

She didn't react when he put hand near hers. She was startled when he finally grabbed her hand and locked his gaze with her own. Softly he bent over and pressed his lips on hers. It was his turn to be surprised. He hadn't expected her to close her eyes, grab him by the tie and deepen the kiss. Incredibly happy he let his arms slide around her waist and pressed her against him, tilting her head.

She had locked her arms around his neck; one hand nestled in his hair. When the kiss ended, she pulled him back for another one. But then she whispered, "Ichigo…"

Ishida didn't break the kiss. He waited until she ended it, as if he had heard nothing. Then he took a step back. It would be better not to let her know he had heard.

"Inoue-san, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

She pressed her hand to her lips, startled by her own actions. Was she really this desperate? To hurt Ishida-kun like that! To have kissed him while thinking of Ichigo just to have a taste of her dream, she was disgusting.

"Thank you for your kindness, kissing me back just to be nice to me, even while you are in love with Ichigo. Thank you and sorry, I was just being stupid."

Orihime blinked, he hadn't heard her? He thought she was nice? God… she…

He left, after all Tatsuki was waiting outside for her. That day he didn't go home, he took the bus and went straight to his father. His decision had been made.

ooooooooooooooooo

"So you've come."

Ishida remained silent. He was facing his father. The one person he didn't understand in the least, and that didn't understand him either. He couldn't say he hated his father, yet he didn't love him like a son should. Their relationship was really strange.

"Well then, what is your answer?"

As if he had to ask! "To regain the power of a Quincy!"

His father's eyes hardened.

"And then?"

Ishida didn't hesitate even one second.

"I swear, that I will never involve myself with shinigami ever again"

ooooooooooooooooo

Edit: Story currently dropped.

To be continue?  
Please review. I need to know if this story is worth writing.


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